As part of the COVID-19 relief plan in Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister, said earlier this week that instead of distributing food to vulnerable groups or those most impacted by the pandemic, cash tokens will be paid out.
KAMPALA | LIFESTYLE UGANDA — The Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja recently announced that as a COVID-19 relief plan, the government will give cash tokens instead of distributing food items such as beans and posho to those most hit by the pandemic.
Robinah Nabbanja (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinah_Nabbanja) revealed on Monday’s morning breeze program on NBS TV that government intends to offer these cash tokens only to vulnerable groups and not to every individual.
In explaining who is vulnerable and who is not, the newly appointed Prime Minister Nabbanja explained that those who work hand-to-mouth are considered vulnerable.
The plan is to use local authorities to help identify people who fall into these categories, and Nabbanja stated that those whose jobs have been affected include bartenders and street vendors without forgetting those who live in poor communities.
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In Nabbanja’s view, the vulnerable are already known, including the unemployed, residents who sell items on the streets, bartenders and street children.
”We have people who have been unemployed for over a year, bartenders, people who have been selling items on the street, street children and our poor communities,” Nabbanja explained.
“We will identify these vulnerable people using the NIRA list and the local authorities,” she said. “We are aware that we have vulnerable people in society, especially those who have been living on the edge.”
”Identifying vulnerable people will be done using NIRA lists and local authorities since we know there are many in our society who live hand-to-mouth.”
Additionally, she noted that the procedure would be accomplished through the use of mobile money; for people without telephone numbers, vouchers would be used.
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The digital transaction, Nabbanja explained, not only reduces cost and time but also helps reduce corruption, which is something that was witnessed last year during food aid deliveries.
“Cash relief distribution through Mobile Money would be efficient, cost-effective and time-saving, but has two drawbacks. It assumes a fair and transparent selection process of beneficiaries, and assumes all beneficiaries have both a Mobile Money account and NIN. These are big assumptions.”
For those without a telephone number, Nabbanja said, a voucher system would be used. The vouchers would be manufactured so that they could not be forged.
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“We intend to use mobile money because we believe it will reduce many administrative costs, for those without a phone number we will use vouchers,” Nabbanja added, noting that the vouchers will be made in a way that they cannot be forged.
“We expect to save a lot of administrative costs using mobile money, and to help those without phone numbers, we will use a voucher system,” Nabbanja explained, saying that vouchers can not be forged.
“The vouchers will have security features that will make it difficult for the voucher to be forged, they will have special numbers that can be used to claim cash from a mobile money agent or the bank, and we will meet tomorrow to determine “how much” each vulnerable individual will receive.”
“We will sit tomorrow with the different committees and come up with the “how much” each vulnerable individual will get, and the vouchers will be durable and hard to forge. They will have special numbers that one can take to mobile money agents or the bank to collect their money.
